Copy and paste this worksheet as a separate page linked to the Homepage of your portfolio. DO NOT type your answers on THIS document because it needs to be used by other students. The title of your page which replies to these questions is linked to your portfolio and should begin with the first initials of your first and last name. (In my case, the link to this worksheet from my portfolio page would read frtrifles.)
You may earn a maximum of 3 points toward your final grade by doing the above and answering the questions and submitting them on time (no later than Friday, August, 25). Any worksheets submitted after the deadline will get a 0. You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points, if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammar and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of Trifles. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?” At the beginning of the play etc.
The stasis at the beginning of Trifles is in the kitchen at the farmhouse of John Wright, who was recently killed. It seems to take place in winter of 1916 and a little after John Wright was killed. The people who are directly involved in the case are: John Wright (though he is deceased), John's wife, Mrs. Wright, the Sheriff, Mrs. Peters, the county attorney, and Mr. and Mrs. Hale. The latter five find themselves in John Wright's farmhouse, trying to find evidence to see who killed him and discussing how the farmhouse was situated before (the Sheriff had visited the day before, and they were confirming that nothing had been tampered with and what Mrs. Wright has said).
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play?
The intrusion could be when Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters find the dead canary in Mrs. Wright's basket. This is most likely the intrusion because before the bird carcass was found, the play seemed to be still with relatively no dramatic action. This scene sets the play rolling because something has finally happened to build conflict. The dramatic action is built because there is conflict on if they should hide the evidence or give it up to the men.Once the bird is found, the women have a sense of horror, which builds drama and action. They have to decide what to do with this piece of evidence because this bird implies that Mrs. Wright had killed her husband, and they don't know if they should follow the law or save Minnie Wright.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
The events of the play take place here because a little bit before, the two women find a broken bird cage, which sets the framework for the intrusion. The bird cage confused the two woman because it made them wonder what happened to the bird. They initially don't think much of the missing bird, but the absence of the bird helps build suspense until they find the dead bird. They then compare Mrs. Wright to a bird because she used to sing and seem free. This scene also creates a symbol for Mrs. Wright, which explains why the bird was dead and explains Mrs. Wright's motives of killing her husband.
4. State the dramatic question or questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
The question that must be answered is: "Should they hide the evidence or not?"
5. Use Ms. Hale to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Trifles the wants of Ms. Hale change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles for Ms. Hale.
Initially, Mrs. Hale wants the men to hurry with the investigation so they can all leave the place. She wants to leave because the farmhouse seems unwelcoming, but they can't because of B and C. For example, the other men want to investigate the place and don't seem to care too much about her wants. Also, even though she wants to leave, she knows that it'd be against the law to not investigate, so she has to deal with these two obstacles. As the play progresses, she starts to realize that the place is not too bad and that she used to be very close to Minnie Wright. Upon this realization, she wishes that she had visited more often. The obstacles that got in the way of this want are A and B because she had always thought of the farmhouse with a negative connotation. Because of this, she had never visited, and regrets it. She even goes as far as blaming herself. She also had to take care of her children, which is why B is an obstacle. Because she was so busy, she did not even have many chances to visit Minnie. She also wants to hide the evidence, but there is no obstacle to this want since she ends up hiding the evidence in her pocket. There is very little of obstacle D, though. There does not seem to be any presence of fate or Gods.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. In your estimation what is the most theatrical moment in Trifles and what happens during that moment which is so important to the outcome of the play?
The most theatrical moment could be when the men leave the kitchen then the attorney and the Sherrif open the doorknob as Mrs. Hale shoves the box into her coat pocket.In this moment, they had to make a decision since the men were done with their investigation. The sound of the doorknob turning must be extremely suspenseful, so it pushed the ladies to make a decision as to whether if they were going to hide or give up the evidence. Had they had more time, the women might have decided to give up the evidence rather than keep it.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Trifles. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
The comparison of Minnie Wright and a singing bird- it lets the audience know how Minnie was in her past with her dresses and voice, and the wrung neck of her canary is a symbol of her freedom and life. It helps to explain the background on her motive of the murder.
Knotting the quilt- the knots of the quilt help emphasize what Minnie had done to her husband. She strangled him, which "knot" implies. It goes on to show that it was indeed Minnie who had strangled John Wright. This is also a little ironic because it shows such a major detail, but the men would ignore it since it was deemed as a "trifle." They assume it is not worth contemplating because it dealt with women.
The loneliness and darkness of the farmhouse- this shows the audience how empty the house is. It has clearly been abandoned, which is explained because of John's death and Minnie's freedom.
The title helps explain the images because under all these images is a sense of feminism. The title, in a way, is ironic because it shows that feminism is disregarded by the men of the play. This mistake leads them to being unable to find any motive or evidence of the murder.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Trifles.
The themes are:
crime
family
feminism
death
ethics
justice
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with Trifles? Is family redefined in Trifles?
Family is big aspect of Trifles. Most of the characters are married, which count as families. The Hale couple have a family including children as well, which were partly the reason why Mrs. Hale had never visited Minnie Wright. Family is redefined in this play because Minnie and John were technically a family at first; however, the family is broken up as soon as John is murdered. Minnie is implied to not have been charged with the murder, and she can continue as a family of one. Because of this, it breaks the stereotype of needing to be married to be part of a family.
Copy and paste this worksheet as a separate page linked to the Homepage of your portfolio. DO NOT type your answers on THIS document because it needs to be used by other students. The title of your page which replies to these questions is linked to your portfolio and should begin with the first initials of your first and last name. (In my case, the link to this worksheet from my portfolio page would read frtrifles.)
You may earn a maximum of 3 points toward your final grade by doing the above and answering the questions and submitting them on time (no later than Friday, August, 25). Any worksheets submitted after the deadline will get a 0.
You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points, if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammar and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of Trifles. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?” At the beginning of the play etc.
The stasis at the beginning of Trifles is in the kitchen at the farmhouse of John Wright, who was recently killed. It seems to take place in winter of 1916 and a little after John Wright was killed. The people who are directly involved in the case are: John Wright (though he is deceased), John's wife, Mrs. Wright, the Sheriff, Mrs. Peters, the county attorney, and Mr. and Mrs. Hale. The latter five find themselves in John Wright's farmhouse, trying to find evidence to see who killed him and discussing how the farmhouse was situated before (the Sheriff had visited the day before, and they were confirming that nothing had been tampered with and what Mrs. Wright has said).
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play?
The intrusion could be when Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters find the dead canary in Mrs. Wright's basket. This is most likely the intrusion because before the bird carcass was found, the play seemed to be still with relatively no dramatic action. This scene sets the play rolling because something has finally happened to build conflict. The dramatic action is built because there is conflict on if they should hide the evidence or give it up to the men.Once the bird is found, the women have a sense of horror, which builds drama and action. They have to decide what to do with this piece of evidence because this bird implies that Mrs. Wright had killed her husband, and they don't know if they should follow the law or save Minnie Wright.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
The events of the play take place here because a little bit before, the two women find a broken bird cage, which sets the framework for the intrusion. The bird cage confused the two woman because it made them wonder what happened to the bird. They initially don't think much of the missing bird, but the absence of the bird helps build suspense until they find the dead bird. They then compare Mrs. Wright to a bird because she used to sing and seem free. This scene also creates a symbol for Mrs. Wright, which explains why the bird was dead and explains Mrs. Wright's motives of killing her husband.
4. State the dramatic question or questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
The question that must be answered is: "Should they hide the evidence or not?"
5. Use Ms. Hale to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Trifles the wants of Ms. Hale change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles for Ms. Hale.
Initially, Mrs. Hale wants the men to hurry with the investigation so they can all leave the place. She wants to leave because the farmhouse seems unwelcoming, but they can't because of B and C. For example, the other men want to investigate the place and don't seem to care too much about her wants. Also, even though she wants to leave, she knows that it'd be against the law to not investigate, so she has to deal with these two obstacles. As the play progresses, she starts to realize that the place is not too bad and that she used to be very close to Minnie Wright. Upon this realization, she wishes that she had visited more often. The obstacles that got in the way of this want are A and B because she had always thought of the farmhouse with a negative connotation. Because of this, she had never visited, and regrets it. She even goes as far as blaming herself. She also had to take care of her children, which is why B is an obstacle. Because she was so busy, she did not even have many chances to visit Minnie. She also wants to hide the evidence, but there is no obstacle to this want since she ends up hiding the evidence in her pocket. There is very little of obstacle D, though. There does not seem to be any presence of fate or Gods.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. In your estimation what is the most theatrical moment in Trifles and what happens during that moment which is so important to the outcome of the play?
The most theatrical moment could be when the men leave the kitchen then the attorney and the Sherrif open the doorknob as Mrs. Hale shoves the box into her coat pocket.In this moment, they had to make a decision since the men were done with their investigation. The sound of the doorknob turning must be extremely suspenseful, so it pushed the ladies to make a decision as to whether if they were going to hide or give up the evidence. Had they had more time, the women might have decided to give up the evidence rather than keep it.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Trifles. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
The title helps explain the images because under all these images is a sense of feminism. The title, in a way, is ironic because it shows that feminism is disregarded by the men of the play. This mistake leads them to being unable to find any motive or evidence of the murder.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Trifles.
The themes are:
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with Trifles? Is family redefined in Trifles?
Family is big aspect of Trifles. Most of the characters are married, which count as families. The Hale couple have a family including children as well, which were partly the reason why Mrs. Hale had never visited Minnie Wright. Family is redefined in this play because Minnie and John were technically a family at first; however, the family is broken up as soon as John is murdered. Minnie is implied to not have been charged with the murder, and she can continue as a family of one. Because of this, it breaks the stereotype of needing to be married to be part of a family.